Unit 0: Building Community
Note: I teach in a district fortunate enough to have a 1:1 program. Therefore, I can implement a Unit 0 completely online knowing my students have access to the technology they need to be successful.
What’s the POINT? Important Considerations for Unit/Lesson Planning during the COVID-19 Crisis and Beyond
POINT is another acronym for unit and lesson planning. You know, we needed one more to beef up the alphabet soup of educational jargon.
Practical Considerations, Part III: Enrichment Courses
In the previous post, the enrichment course idea bubbled to the surface as a solution to a problem that courses with end-of-course exams would have if we were to use the 4×4 schedule. This post addresses what it would look like at a high level.
Practical Considerations, Part II: Scheduling for the 2020-2021 School Year
The focus of this post: With this schedule, there would be fewer transitions. If we are doing in-person learning, having fewer transitions could help make things feel less chaotic for teachers, staff, and students.
Practical Considerations for Returning to In-Person Learning
The role play is often revealing. It’s like putting code into a sandbox for stress testing. The bugs that fall out can be addressed, processes changed for better flow, etc. It’s possible that the fear of finding out this is not going to work might be too strong. That could lead to disaster.
Social and Emotional Learning: A Critical Need in the 2020-2021 School Year
Just like COVID-19 is a life-or-death situation, so it is that the lack of social and emotional skills among many in this population is creating life-or-death situations on an almost daily basis. Which is more important? Every teacher knows the answer to that question.
Curriculum and Instruction During the COVID-19 Crisis
Instead of doing what we did before, which was akin to flipping the light switch on a bunch of gremlins, we teachers and students should take the lessons we have learned and apply them to virtual teaching and learning this upcoming quarter. My first “bike monologue” is dedicated to some ways we can help students rediscover their love of learning and become self-directed learners.
Why Reexamine What Education Is Right Now? Why Not?
Education should be about freedom; through our acquisition of knowledge and our development of critical thinking skills, we realize we are free.
Should I Teach To Kill a Mockingbird?
Why am I so hesitant to teach To Kill a Mockingbird?
This Is Why I Teach Literature
Words matter.